Family, freedom greet activist

Quan Quoc Nguyen walked into the embrace of his family and supporters Wednesday night. It had been nine months since he had seen them.

The newly released pro-democracy activist from Garden Grove was detained in Vietnam last April, when he was arrested upon arrival at Ho Chi Minh City's airport and accused of terrorism.

“For people who step into danger, their primary concern is the well-being of their family,” he said in Vietnamese to reporters who awaited him at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. “I knew while I was in prison that everyone was supportive of my wife and kids. And for that, I am very grateful.”

During his jail stay, the 60-year-old Nguyen was kept in a small cell with another inmate, who he said was there to keep watch on him. He talked to other dissidents and plans to relay a message from one of them at an upcoming news conference.

But he had little communication with the outside world. He had a half-hour meeting with the U.S. Consulate once a month. But that felt more like 15 minutes because of the need for a translator. There was no communication with his family.

His wife, Huong Mai Ngo, sent him books. He never got them.

He wrote her a poem. She never got it.

Nguyen said his wife and family were always on his mind. He ate the food his jailers gave him “because of my wife.” He exercised daily, he said, “because of my wife.”

Nguyen's release came after U.S. diplomatic pressure, said Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party, also known as the Viet Tan pro-democracy group. Nguyen is an activist with the group and was in Vietnam to conduct “nonviolent training,” Do said.

At first, authorities accused him of terrorism. Later, the charges changed and he still faced trial in January – a trial that was unexpectedly postponed. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Nguyen had “confessed to his crime” and asked for leniency to be reunited with his family. His wife said there was no such confession.

Nguyen's release caught his family by surprise.

Khoa Nguyen, his older son, got the news when he woke up Wednesday morning. There were some 10 messages on his cellphone.

“Our dad is coming home,” his text messages read.

“It was the best wake-up I've ever had,” said the UC Davis student, who got in a car with a cousin and friends and drove down to Southern California from the Sacramento area to greet his father with a bouquet of flowers and a big hug at the airport.

For some nine months, the 20-year-old worried about his father's health. Were they feeding him properly? How was he faring? And he was concerned about his mother – “because she loved him so much and she was so worried.”

As a little boy, he said he couldn't understand why his father would go away for long periods. But then he grew up and understood his father's passion for his native home, Vietnam. And he grew to admire and respect him.

“His most defining character is his dedication and his fearlessness,” he said. “Before he left, he told me he's not afraid of the Vietnamese government and he's not afraid to die for his country. He loves the Vietnamese people.”

A mathematician, Nguyen used to be a high school teacher in his native land. Then he earned a doctorate in the U.S. and in the past 20 years has been active with the pro-Democracy movement in Vietnam, his family said. About two years ago, he moved to Garden Grove from the Sacramento area.

This wasn't the first time Nguyen walked into the embrace of his family and supporters following imprisonment. In 2007, Quan was detained for some six months.

On Wednesday night, surrounded by supporters, flowers, banners and balloons, Nguyen spoke about how dissidents in Vietnam are imprisoned unjustly. Asked if he would return, he said: “I don't know. I'm ready.”

His wife said earlier that “if the Vietnamese government can't stop him, neither can I.” But she hopes he doesn't consider it any time soon.

With his brother, Tri, 19, at his side, Khoa Nguyen seemed to speak for both of them when asked the same question: “I can't really stop him. But I hope not.”

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